TheJournalofNaturalLaw
A peer-reviewed venue for developing, applying, and defending the natural law tradition across philosophy, theology, and law.
Aims & Scope
The Journal of Natural Law exists to restore and advance a tradition that shaped Western moral and political thought for more than a millennium. For over a thousand years the principles of natural law informed how we understand human rights, legal authority, just war, sound economy, and the law of nations. This journal is devoted to developing that inheritance and carrying it forward, in the conviction that what once shaped a civilization has not spent its force.
Because the tradition spans philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence, the journal is interdisciplinary by necessity. Because its reach is global, the journal is international in scope, though it publishes exclusively in English. It treats natural law as a living moral theory, one that recovers its history without reducing that history to a relic.
“Law is the supreme rational principle, implanted in nature, which commands what must be done and forbids the opposite.”
— Cicero, De Legibus
It is a broad tradition, its internal debates running for centuries alongside searching criticism from without. The Journal of Natural Law gathers those varied threads in one place, positive and negative, rather than serving as a mouthpiece for any faction. To quicken the exchange, we publish brief peer responses of roughly 1,500 words alongside major articles, and we are opening a standing session for case studies that reward sustained moral analysis. Our aim is to be the preeminent resource for everyone engaged in natural law thought, and the venue where its renewal is carried out.
News & Calls for Papers
Open calls, prizes, and announcements are posted here.
Case Studies for Sustained Moral Analysis
The Journal of Natural Law invites submissions of original case studies suitable for sustained moral analysis. Cases that press on the boundaries of existing theory, expose tensions between competing principles, or resist easy resolution are of particular interest. While bioethics has long served as a rich source of such cases, the journal welcomes submissions from any domain where careful attention to concrete circumstances bears on questions of natural law and practical reason.
Cases drawn from commercial ethics, military conduct, property disputes, professional obligation, or political authority are as welcome as those from clinical settings. What matters is that the case is detailed enough to reward close analysis and that its author possesses genuine expertise on the subject matter, so that the facts presented can be treated as credible and complete.
Essay Competition
Check back soon for the announcement of an essay competition and prize.
Issues
- A Case for New Natural LawMelissa Moschella · University of Notre Dame
- A Case against New Natural LawRobert C. Koons · University of Texas at Austin
- A Response to Robert C. KoonsMelissa Moschella
- A Response to Melissa MoschellaRobert C. Koons
- The Natural Law in Reformed Protestant ScholasticismRandall J. Price · Southern Methodist University
- Do Reformed Protestants and Catholics Agree about Natural Law? A Reply to PriceJ. Caleb Clanton · Lipscomb University
- Turretin and Divine Command EthicsJanine Marie Idziak · Loras College
- Reviews of recent work on natural lawincluding Richard Berquist, Wojciech Golubiewski, and F. Russell Hittinger
Editorial Board
The full editorial board and biographies →
Published with the generous support of the Wolf-Kuhn Ethics Institute at Saint Francis University and the American Maritain Association.
For Authors
The Journal of Natural Law welcomes original work across philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence: major articles, brief peer responses, discussion notes, book reviews, and case studies for our standing section on casuistry. Manuscripts are submitted through the journal’s online system and reviewed on merit.
Subscribe & Access
The journal is published twice a year, in Fall and Spring, by The Catholic University of America Press. The full text of every issue is hosted on Project MUSE, and electronic subscriptions include access to back issues there. Individual and institutional rates are available in print, electronic, and combined formats.
Contact
For editorial and submission questions, write to the editor, Brian Besong. For subscriptions and back issues, contact the JHUP Journals Division. The journal is published by The Catholic University of America Press in Washington, D.C.